day 10: high ideals, high appeals

29/07/08

Numerous high-profile Palestinian political party members exited the Rafah crossing Tuesday, en route to Cairo for Wednesday’s inter-party negotiations brokered by Egyptian Chief of Intelligence, Omar Suleiman. Linda Willis and Khalil Al Niss were able to meet with Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) members Ramzy Rabah and Saleh Zeidan, who spoke of the recent problems in Gaza, highlighting the need for and importance of Palestinian unity.

Nine Days at the Closed Gates of Rafah

First Published: July 29, 2008

On Sunday, July 20, the Scotland-to-Gaza van filled with medicines and medical supplies destined for Gaza came to a standstill at Egypt’s closed gates. The Rafah crossing, the only Egyptian-Gazan crossing and the only crossing ostensibly not controlled by Israel, has been continuously closed since June 2007, with brief openings for a minimal number of extreme cases, usually medically-related. Since the June 19^th Gaza-Israel truce began, goods entering Gaza through crossings with Israel have decreased, and the Rafah crossing has yet to open regularly.

Scottish couple barred from delivering medical supplies at Gaza’s Rafah crossing

First Published: Daily News Egypt

By Eva Bartlett

First Published: July 21, 2008

CAIRO: Ten days after setting out from Edinburgh, five days past their projected July 15 arrival, Scottish humanitarian Khalil Al Niss and his wife Linda Willis finally pulled up Sunday afternoon at the Gaza-Egypt Rafah crossing only to be denied entry to Gaza.

The Gazan side, just over 100 meters from the Egyptian gate and Israeli-constructed wall, is visible from where the couple’s van sits idle; doctors inside Gaza wait for the expected delivery of essential medical aid.

Following Abed

Continue to visit Abed, the Jabaliya teen in hospital after being shot on his roof by an Israeli sniper. He is a lovely young man, and I’ll cry with joy if he ever heals enough to just sit in a wheelchair.

He longs to be independent, even if it is only by running his own electric-wheelchair. His fortitude is astounding, as is his maturity.

Gaza patients in egypt

Abdul Rahman, the 16 year old from Jabaliya, is doing very poorly. Visited with him yesterday and he was more emaciated than ever. Was a bit hopeful because Samir, an Egyptian guy who has been working with Gazans sent here, said they’d secured funding (36000 pounds) for Abed’s 2 operations. We were all hopeful.
But today Samir phoned and said Abed’s blood is infected with something
that is reacting like a poison. Indeed, he was more twisted and gnarled in his hospital bed than other days, like a bad horror movie.

Putting a name to Gaza’s injured

First published: Electronic Intifada

Bedridden but painfully conscious, nearly paralyzed with no feeling from the waist down, 16-year-old Abdul Rahman (nicknamed Abed) is one of the hundreds who were injured by intense Israeli shelling and firing on Gaza between 27 February – 3 March 2008, during an operation dubbed “Hot Winter” by Israel. According to a World Health Organization report, during this period the Israeli army killed at least 116 Palestinians, nearly half of them civilians and more than a quarter children, including a six-month-old and a 20-day-old baby, and injured 350. Later counts put the number killed as high as 150, with more than 55 killed in one day alone. Over half of the week’s fatalities and injuries occurred in and around Jabaliya, the refugee camp where Abed was born and has called home all of his life.

conversations with Jabaliyans

The guy I chatted with, from Jabaliya, was brimming with the same phenomenal exuberance as when I’d met him two weeks ago in one of Cairo’s Hospitals. That was just a week or two after he and his brother had been allowed to exit Gaza for medical care. His brother, 7 years older, was identical in warmth and spirit, although both legs had just been amputated above the knees.